Little Havana-Little Haiti violence

The Little Havana-Little Haiti violence occurred in 1986 in Miami, Florida, United States when Haitian immigrants and Cuban immigrants engaged in a spree of violent fight against each other. The violence began after Haitian gang lord Martin Lajoie was killed at the funeral of his predecessor by a Cuban gangster, and the two neighborhoods engaged in a fierce rivalry for the rest of the year. Dozens of people, including police and innocent bystanders, were killed in the rivalry between Little Haiti and Little Havana.

Background
In the 1980s, waves of immigrants came from Cuba and Haiti, two island nations in the Caribbean Sea whose dictatorships ruled over poor nations with low standards of living. In 1980, the Mariel Boatlift saw thousands of Cubans come to the United States on boats after Fidel Castro opened up the harbor, and the Cuban refugees established their own community in the Little Havana neighborhood of Downtown Miami. Meanwhile, people fleeing the harsh rule of Jean-Claude Duvalier moved to Little Haiti, which was a run-down neighborhood with almost no law. The Haitians and Cubans formed their own gangs, with the Haitians wearing blue shirts and white pants while the Cubans wore white shirts with red dots and blue pants. The Cubans and Haitians, living in neighboring areas, developed a fierce rivalry as the two poor Caribbean communities fought against each other.

Conflict
The rivalry broke out after Haitian community leader Martin Lajoie was killed at the funeral of the previous Haitian gang leader, with the Cubans being blamed for his assassination. Real estate prices tumbled as a result of the gang war that started, and it became a common sight to witness Haitian and Cuban gangsters shoot at each other, as well as to see Haitian or Cuban gangsters walk down the streets in groups. The police were not commonly found in Little Haiti, which was so run-down that the Haitian gangsters were the real law enforcement in the neighborhood. In Little Havana, however, there was police intervention, and the Miami Police Department would interfere in some of the firefights. However, the police could not prevent these incidents from occurring, and they could do nothing but attempt to stop the shooting once it had begun.

Cuban assault
The Cuban community leader Umberto Robina, who was the head of the Los Cabrones gang, made contact with Tommy Vercetti, a rising player in the Miami drug trade who had taken over Ricardo Diaz's operation after killing him at his mansion. Vercetti was recruited by Robina for a massive attack against the Haitians in retaliation for their murder of a few of Robina's close friends, and Vercetti led a force of several Cubans from Robina's cafe to an alleyway in Little Haiti where the Haitians had a narcotics factory. They attacked the Haitians there, and Haitian sniper Julien Cuvillier killed a few Cubans; the Cubans called for reinforcements from the cafe, and more Cuban gangsters arrived. Vercetti used his M16 to kill several Haitian gangsters as they left the factory to attack the Cubans, and because the factory was impenetrable, Vercetti instead stole a Haitian van filled with drugs and took it back to the cafe, delivering it to Robina.